A slice of history🍕
twas' a great weekend for Kansas
Where were you when you found out Olathe West punched their ticket to Nike Cross Nationals? I for one was at a hibachi restaurant in Olathe, KS, peeking at my live results every thirty seconds to see if I could catch any updates during the race. Eventually, the results started coming in, and coming in fast.
When I first saw Bree Newport’s name pop up in 25th place, I got excited. Up to that point, only one other team had had more than one runner cross the finish line. However, for a little bit I was starting to worry, just because Dubuque Homestead, Johnston, Highland Park, Mounds View and a few other teams were starting to see additional finishers. Granted, I should have remembered that this was Olathe West I was dealing with, a team known for their low spread and pack running ability. Thirty seconds after Newport finished, I saw Charis Robinson’s name, followed by Kate Miller, Paige Baker, and Kalyn Willingham all in the span of thirteen seconds. Before I knew it, the team results were piling in, and it was official. Olathe West had just qualified for NXN, becoming the first EVER girl’s team from the state of Kansas to do so. Congratulations to Olathe West, and especially their coaches led by Kelsey Carbajo, who have truly built a powerhouse.
A trip to Portland, OR, to race at NXN was so appealing to St. Thomas Aquinas’ Colby King, he thought he’d join in on the fun.
It’s been an eventful week for the two-time state champ, primarily because he placed 5th last Sunday to secure the final individual automatic qualifier spot in the Heartland region. Like I mentioned, I wasn’t physically at the race, but I was following as closely as one could on Wayzata Timing. King executed as well as anyone could have asked him to, working his way up from 12th at the mile marker to a comfortable 5th by the time he crossed the finish line. Like the rest of the front pack, King went out in a quick first mile, coming through at 4:47, on his way to a 9:47 two-mile. As the top three finishers closed in a sub-4:53, and the 4th place finisher pulled a few seconds away from King with a 5:03, King responded with a 5:08 to hold off everybody else, running 14:55 to punch his ticket. You may have put this together already, but that is also his second time running under fifteen minutes, making him just the third high schooler in state history to do so in the same season. The first two guys to do it finished 14th and 8th in the same race behind King.
If his Sunday wasn’t enough, a few days ago King announced that he was going to be attending Iowa State University, where he’ll of course run cross country and track. He’ll be joining 4:00 miler Devan Kipyego, who also recently signed with the Cyclones.
While the Owls and King may have taken the majority of the spotlight, there were a number of other performances that warrant a shoutout. Both Wyatt Haughton (SM East) and Micah Blomker (SM North) had a top fifteen finish, as Haughton was 8th in 15:06 and Blomker was 14th in 15:12. Both have recently committed to run at the Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships on December 3rd in Huntsville, AL. Topeka West’s Lenny Njoroge wasn’t too far back, taking 18th in 15:15. Henry Born (SM Northwest) and Parker Walion (Gardner-Edgerton) both brought home a top fifty finish, as they took 34th (15:28) and 41st (15:31). Olathe East’s Carter Stewart and Wichita Collegiate’s Cj Meyer closed out the top fifty finishers from Kansas, taking 47th and 50th in 15:33 and 15:34.
On the girl’s side, 5A champ Katelyn Rupe, 6A champ Anjali Hocker Singh and 6A 3200m champ Paige Mullen all left Sioux Falls with a top twenty finish. Rupe ran 17:44, with Hocker Singh running 17:51, her fastest time of the season. Mullen set a lifetime PR, running 17:54, breaking eighteen for the first time in her career. Newport and Robinson of Olathe West both also finished in the top fifty. Here’s a link to the results if you’d like to do some more looking.
The Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, FL played host to the first of the two national championships that it will host this season, with the NJCAA Cross Country National Championships taking place last Friday.
Cloud County’s Lucy Ndungu led the way for Kansas finishers, finishing 4th with her second fastest race of the season, running 18:21 last Friday. Colby’s Emily Diercks and Hutchinson’s Serenity Larson made it three Kansas top fifteen finishers, taking 6th and 12th in their second and first cross country championships. Diercks crossed in 18:29 while Larson finished just over nineteen in 19:01. Both girls are from the state, with Diercks graduating from Hoxie and Larson from Dodge City. Pratt’s Jamaira Ross also finished within the top twenty spots, placing 17th in 19:14.
Hutchinson was the top team finisher, taking 4th with 177 points. Dodge City and Cloud County rounded out teams in the top ten, finishing 8th and 9th with 248 and 252 points.
The hardest thing for the men of Colby last week? Trying to get their brooms through TSA. Just as he has all year, Sanele Masondo didn’t let anyone cross the finish line before him, winning his fifth straight race and his second NJCAA national title. Running 24:07.2, he was just able to hold off the familiar face of Butler’s Rodgers Rotich, who was right behind him in 24:07.6. Masondo’s teammate Ricardo Barbosa took 3rd in 24:29, followed by Mohammed Baghati (24:48/7th), Kgadi Moneybodi (25:07/10th), Remi Chavenaud (25:28/17th), and Tom Thierry (25:43/20th), putting six Colby runners in the top twenty.
Northwest Kansas’ Peter Kipkemboi took 5th for the Mavericks, running 24:40, with teammate Rapheal Kitur taking 8th in 24:50. Garden City’s Kelvin Cheruiyot and Northwest Kansas’ Brian Kiptoo rounded out the top twenty finishers, finishing 11th and 15th in 25:09 and 25:25.
Remember when I said Colby packed the brooms? That’s because along with Masondo winning an individual title, the Trojans won the program’s first title, thanks to their six runners in the top twenty, and all five scorers in the top seventeen. Northwest Kansas thought it’d be fun to join the Trojans on the podium, as they edged out El Paso 126-127. Butler was the only other in-state program to finish in the top ten, finishing tenth with 256 points.
In the NJCAA DII division, Cowley College was the only in-state school competing, as both the women and men took 6th as teams. The lead runner for the women was Abigail Pinnock in 26th, running 20:29 for a top thirty finish. The Cowley men were led by Santiago Nunez, who finished 14th in 26:32, followed by Goran Dujisters in 27th, who crossed the line in 27:03.
Even though you’re reading this and the NAIA season has already come to an end, it may be a little late for some, but so what! A few weeks ago, the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and Heart of America Athletic Conference held their championship meets, with Southwestern College hosting the KCAC in Winfield, KS, and Grand View University hosting the HAAC in Des Moines, IA.
In Winfield, it was A LOT of navy and yellow (or gold) as St. Mary had a stellar day. Combined, they had twenty-three athletes in the top twenty on the men’s and women’s sides, with ten for the women and thirteen for the men. Riley Hiebert defended her 2021 title, this time winning in 17:43, as the only woman under eighteen. She led the way for the Spires’ 1-2-3 finish, with Alyssa Armendariz and Reagan Hiebert both running 18:21. Caroline Giles of Friends finished in 4th in 18:29, with Tabor’s Brooke Wiebe running 18:44 for 5th. Danielle Allison of Tabor and Madisyn Ehrlich of Kansas Wesleyan finished 8th and 9th, both punching their ticket to nationals in 18:57 and 19:02.
St. Mary put up 20 points to win their third straight conference title, comfortably ahead of Tabor and Kansas Wesleyan who scored 72 and 105 points.
Mimicking their women, the St. Mary men put up just twenty points en route to their tenth straight KCAC title, with their top five going 2-6, as Friends’ standout Logan Horning won the individual title. Horning made back-to-back individual titles for Friends, winning the race in 24:45, nineteen seconds ahead of the pack of Spires. Horning was the first of the individual national qualifiers, as he was joined by five other runners (and one teammate) from Kansas Wesleyan, Southwestern and Tabor.
7th — Shane Calvin — 25:41 (Kansas Wesleyan)
13th — Ablel Gebreselase — 25:57 (Southwestern)
14th — Austin Hess — 26:00 (Kansas Wesleyan)
15th — Alan Catana — 26:03 (Tabor)
16th — Josiah Bolton — 26:13 (Friends)
St. Mary won the title handily over the field, with Kansas Wesleyan and Tabor also making it two-for-two on podium finishes. Here is how the Spire scorers looked.
Liam Neidig — 25:04
Brendan Erwin — 25:11
Ryan Heline — 25:18
Kaden Cooley — 25:22
Brig Merritt — 25:34
This is the third straight season that the Spires have swept the conference team titles.
Up in Iowa, the Kansas trio of MidAmerica Nazarene, Baker and Benedictine made the drive to Des Moines, IA, to jockey with the HAAC, a conference comprised of Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. On the women’s side, Benedictine won their third straight HAAC title, with their five scorers going 2-4-6-8-9, led by Caroline Cobo (18:51) who finished as the runner-up. Mary Rolwes (18:51), Natasha Ortiz (19:18), Isabella Guerra (19:30) and Catherine Starrs (19:34) all finished in the top nine for the Ravens, notching a quick pack time of just forty-three seconds. Baker’s Brooke Allen finished 10th in 19:40, punching her ticket to Tallahassee. Abigail Alred led the way for the Pioneers, taking 15th in 19:54. The women of MidAmerica made their way to the podium, taking 3rd with 113 points, just seven points out of 2nd. Baker finished 6th with 142 points.
On the men’s side, the highest Kansas finisher was Benedictine’s Thaddeus Friess, who took 8th in 26:19. He also punched his ticket to Florida. Friess led his team to their second consecutive runner-up finish, thirteen points ahead of 3rd place. Baker and MidAmerica finished 7th and 8th, with Adriel Hinojos leading the Wildcats with a 32nd finish in 27:36, and Riley Glassbrenner the top man for the Pioneers in 26:56 and 18th place.
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